Picture Book Playlist: noun. A list of picture books hand-selected and reviewed by picture book fanatic and author Danna Smith to be read to and enjoyed by kids of all ages, anytime, anywhere. What's on your playlist?

Arctic White Turns Two!

“When you live in the Arctic in winter, everything is a shade of white.” Most of the U.S. is covered in white at the moment. Is this nature’s way of celebrating Arctic White‘s Book Birthday? I’m gonna say YES! I can’t believe it has already been two years since Arctic White was illustrated by amazing artist Lee White and released by publisher Henry Holt.

Summary

A young girl looks around her home in the Arctic and sees only white, white, white…but one day her grandfather takes her on a journey through the tundra. And at the end of their cold walk across the ice, they find something special that brings color into their world.

Since it’s release date, Arctic White has received much love- it was an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist, on Literati’s Best Books list of 2017, it received many lovely reviews and was used in classrooms to teach literacy, geography, science and art!

“While this book easily fulfills core curriculum standards in literacy, geography, and science; the art teacher might get the most mileage from it. Surely the children can produce wonderful colors from any part of the world to decorate their winter hallways.” -2nd Grade Reading Blog.

Book Love

The best book love of all is when I receive letters from and about kids who enjoy reading. This is Mason, whose mother sent this photo of him giving the book two thumbs up!

And this is Ana whose grandmother gave her an autographed copy and a polar bear as a gift for reading 200 books over the summer in her summer reading program! Way to go girl!

“Life in winter is shades of white in Smith’s sweet tale of the frozen North…White’s lively, detailed illustrations capture a vastness and mystery, incorporating bursts of red and green seamlessly into a dusky gray world.” – New York Times

Interior Pages

“The last few pages of the swirling, glowing, swooping Northern Lights are impressive enough to inspire readers to see this natural phenomenon for themselves.” -School Library Journal